I’m hoping someone here can give me a hint on how to get out of this jam! So I bought a car (cash) from this nice Indian fellow who was in a rush to leave the country since his work visa had expired. He filled out the title transfer form, and I gave him the money, and now he’s in India. Problem is, when I went to complete the form, I screwed it up. Here in NJ, the buyer is supposed to fill out her driver’s license on the back of the form. I mistakenly thought I had to write his (the seller’s) drivers license number there. So the DMV won’t issue me a title. The car has no plates. The DMV said that the seller (who is now in India) has to sign and notarized a form and then send over here. I’m hoping he does, but what if he doesn’t? After all he already has the cash and is long gone. How can I fix this situation if the seller is long gone to another country? The DMV here in NJ is not being very helpful. Any tips and suggestions mucho appreciated.
Take it one step at a time. Give him time to respond. Be sure to remove any obstacle to him signing, like making him pay for to ship the signed document to you. It appears that you know how to contact him. That is a good sign. I suppose your next step is to contact a lawyer if the former owner doesn’t respond. It is unlikely that anyone on this board knows how to proceed from here. But don’t give up on the seller. He is your best chance to get the title transferred.
You have no choice but to work with the DMV in your state. You’re never going to hear from your Indian seller again, and even if you did, it wouldn’t matter.
This is not likely to be easy, but you just have to keep on slugging away at the NJ DMV.
They are your only hope.
Good luck.
One thing to do is to go to the DMV office, different offices & different times until you get some nice old lady that would believe your story, cross the number and write the correct one on top. The other way is to just forge his signature, but then you don’t want to do that, so stick with option one.
Ask to speak to a supervisor at the DMV and explain what has happened…If that fails, contact your State Senator and Representative and ask them to intervene in your behalf. That’s what they get paid to do…
I don’t see why a drivers license number is part of a title transfer…You don’t need a drivers license to own a car…This sounds like a minor typographical error…
A third option would be to visit a car DEALER and ask to chat with their title clerk…They have seen it all and know how to overcome paperwork problems…
Some states are more difficult than others when it comes to transferring title from on person to another. Several years ago I lived in the high desert of Arizona. Arizona is a beautiful state and has an even more beautiful DMV system. You can walk into your local (privately owned) title store and walk out about 10 minutes later with a new vehicle title and registration in your own name. If the paperwork is legal, it’s a piece of cake. All states should have this system in my opinion.
Yeah go to a different office and start over and act dumb like you filled the form out wrong and just have them cross it off. I just don’t understand why you have to deal with the guy from India at all-doesn’t make any sense. You don’t know a notary? Sometimes you just have to be a little creative. I once bought a car from a girl trying to make house payments after the guy took off. The car was in his name. She signed his name, the friend of hers at DMV took it and transfered title, and I got the car and she made another house payment. That was 30 years ago and neither one of us ended up in jail yet. Don’t know about the guy.